


Today again, as cherry blossoms dance in the wind

by ShionsTear



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, But Also A Bit, Childhood Friends, Drama, Edo Period, Fantasy, Friendship, Historical, Historical References, M/M, Meiji Restoration, Romance, Samurai, Some Humor, Sword Hunt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 13:57:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15686811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShionsTear/pseuds/ShionsTear
Summary: A silver haired figure is searching the place he calls home, pursuing the memories of times long lost."Even though we can't meet anymore, we're not apart from each other."





	Today again, as cherry blossoms dance in the wind

**Author's Note:**

> After hearing [this song](https://youtu.be/wxdtx5MCQhs) for the first, I immediately wanted to write a story based on it. And Gaku perfectly fit the image of the main character. And his birthday was coming up soon too, double perfect.
> 
> So here you go.
> 
> Happy Birthday Gaku! Please never change.

_“One day I’ll take the world with this sword!!”_

_“Huh? Although you can’t even beat me? Don’t make me laugh.”_

_“What was that? You wanna fight, huh!?”_

_“They’re at it again…”_

_“Fight! Fight!”_

 

He opened his eyes. Once again he saw a dream of the past. He was facing the ceiling of his home, lying on the tatami flooring. It was quiet, only an eventual tingle could be heard. A sunny day in late summer. He fell asleep after eating lunch next to the veranda. He had left the sliding doors open in hope of a cooling breath of air. And indeed, there was a gentle breeze blowing, making the wind chimes ring.

His yukata was falling of his shoulders. It had been too hot so he didn’t wear it properly. Why would he, there was no need to. He lived on his own. He sighed, sat up and stretched his arms.

“Well, let’s go.” he said to himself and stood up. He put on the yukata properly enough to head out and bound the obi anew. He grabbed his wooden sword, tucked it in between obi and yukata and walked to the entrance. While putting on his sandals he yawned deeply, he was still feeling somewhat drowsy.

He stepped outside and walked down to the main street of the capital. The streets were full of people, despite the afternoon sun still shining down strongly.

“Come here, come here! Grab today’s Mainichi Paper! Read the latest news!” a man was yelling into the passing crowd. He was selling newspapers on the street. “Ohh, Gaku! I assume you want one too?”

“Hey.” Gaku approached him with a smile and handed him some coins. “I’ll take one, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” he gave him the newspaper and pocketed the money. After bowing down he continued walking while quickly glancing over the paper.

“Takebashi incident aftermath: Government executes 53 rioters” he read out loud. The incident had taken place the previous week, in the Imperial Palace. “Nothing but trouble in the capital, huh?”

He had moved to Tokyo a few years ago, together with his childhood friends. They had visited the same dojo when they were young, all four aspiring to become samurai in the future, but they didn’t expect they’d never be allowed to carry around a real sword.

Since the sword hunt by the new established Meiji government in 1868 ten years ago, it had been prohibited for samurai and normal commoners to carry any kind of weapon with them. Only government officials had the full authority of owning swords and the like. The Meiji Restoration got rid of the class system entirely and destroyed the samurai class altogether.

Gaku folded the newspaper and stored it inside his yukata; he’d read through it later. For now he just continued walking through the streets with no real goal in mind, like he did every day. And when he did he blocked off almost all of the outside stimuli. As if cutting of everything that bound him to the _now_. His mind started wandering into the _then_ as he kept on walking.

Like a silver haired figure, searching the place he calls home, pursuing the memories of times long lost.

“Hey, wait for me!” a young voice exclaimed behind of him. “You got a head start---“ the boy said as he bumped into Gaku. He turned around and looked at the boy.

“Are you okay?”

“Y-yes. Sorry mister.” the boy apologized, stepped aside and turned his head to both sides.

“We’re here!” a group of children in the distance yelled, waving their arms at the boy.

“That was unfair!” the boy waved his arm as well.

“We said at the count of three! Not _after_ three!” the children started laughing. The boy pouted, bowed down to Gaku again and continued chasing his friends.

Gaku smiled as the figures of the children suddenly transformed. They became warped, their silhouettes unclear. Gaku was wandering into his mind again and the children became himself and his friends. They too used to run through the streets of their home town like that, ten years ago.

 

 

_“Gaku, hurry up!”_

_“Geez, calm down Tenn! I just gotta pick up my sword for practice.” Gaku said as he hurried inside to look for his sword._

_“Hah…” Tenn sighed. “This only happens because you’re such an idiot.”_

_“W-well, it can happen to anyone once in a while, right?” the brown haired boy turned to the fourth friend._

_“Sure!” she laughed. “But it happens especially often with Gaku, doesn’t it Ryu?”_

_“…I can’t deny that, Tsumugi-chan.” he sighed._

_“Gaku!” Tenn yelled._

_“I’m coming, geez!” he stepped out of the house, his wooden sword in tow. “Let’s go!” he smiled. “Let’s race to the dojo.”_

_“Why?”_

_“Because I wanna race!” he turned to Tenn._

_“You’re not making any sense, do you know that?”_

_“Shut up!”_

_“Let’s race!” Tsumugi agreed._

_“Hah, fine.” Tenn complied._

_“Then on the count of three!” Gaku said and the four friends got ready. “One… two… three!” he said and started dashing at the same time as Tenn._

_“Wh-what?” Ryu was confused. “Where’s the ‘go’?”_

_“I said three, not after three!” Gaku yelled back as he continued running._

_“Last place treats us to snacks!” Tenn yelled back as well._

_“Ehh!?” Ryu exclaimed. He sighed and started chasing his friends._

 

 

A drop fell on Gaku’s nose. He blinked reflexively. He looked around, but his friends were nowhere to be seen. Those were mere illusions, ghosts of the past. He wasn’t a child anymore, he was an adult now. He couldn’t run through the streets with his friends anymore; at least not with all three of them.

Another drop fell on his face. Followed by one more yet again. He looked skywards and more drops of water kept falling down. It was about to start raining and he quickened his pace as he looked for shelter.

He stopped in front of a small store with a porch, only big enough to cover about two people from the rain. He closed his eyes and sighed. As if on cue, a person bumped into him as they sought shelter from the downpour as well. And right behind a third one followed.

“Yo.”

“Ryu?” Gaku turned around. “And Tsumugi too.”

“Hello.” the woman with long blonde hair smiled.

“What are you doing here?”

“The same as you I assume.” Ryu explained and shook his head to get rid of some water. “Taking shelter from the rain.”

“That’s not what I meant. Didn’t you mention the other day that you’d start your new job today?”

“Oh, yes. But they had some troubles and asked me to come again tomorrow. And I met Tsumugi-chan on my way back home and she asked me if I wanted to accompany her on a walk.”

“Although I didn’t expect it would start raining this much.” Tsumugi sighed.

“I wonder when it’ll stop…”

“I have today’s newspaper.” Gaku said and took it out. “If you want to take a look at it and wait for the rain to stop.”

“What about you?”

“I can just run to where I was heading anyways, I don’t mind a little rain.” he answered even though he had no goal.

“Then why did you take shelter in the first place?” Tsumugi asked.

“Reflexes.”

“What?” Ryu was confused.

“Nevermind.” Gaku was about to run away when he remembered something and turned back to his two friends. “Want to go eat soba tonight?”

“At Yamamura’s?”

“Of course, it’s the best soba place in the capital.” Gaku smiled.

“Do you really need to advertise the shop you work at this much?”

“It’s only the truth.” he laughed. “Alright, see you later.” he said and took off.

“…do you think he’s thinking about _that_ again?” Tsumugi turned to Ryu.

“Probably.” he sighed. “I wish we could help somehow…”

“Ryu, there’s nothing we can do.” Tsumugi put an arm on the tall friend’s shoulder. “It’s no one’s fault. Neither Gaku’s, nor Tenn’s…”

 

 

_Heavy rain fell as the four friends were running towards the dojo they trained in. Gaku was running ahead of the others, closely followed by Tenn, Ryu and Tsumugi._

_“Honestly, this is all your fault, Gaku.” Tenn complained._

_“I already apologized!”_

_“We’re going to be late for our lesson.”_

_“Sorry okay?”_

_“And we’ll be out of breath before we even start practicing.”_

_“You mean_ you _will.”_

_“And we’re going to arrive completely soaked due to this rain.”_

_“Well I can’t change the weather, can I?”_

_“…why are they always like that?” Ryu sighed. The four continued running in the rain and were wet to the undergarments when they arrived at the dojo. Their master ordered them to change clothes immediately so they wouldn’t catch colds. He was a strict master, but still cared a lot for his students. Nonetheless he made sure to hit each of them with his knuckles on their heads and dared them to appear late and soaked like that a second time._

_After changing and drying off their hair a bit, they started their weekly lessons in the art of the sword. The dojo wasn’t all too big, the student count varied from about ten to twenty students depending on the current season and whatnot. Only the four friends had been going there for quite some time already._

_Practice consisted of the same steps every time. ‘Repetition makes perfection.’ was the master’s favourite saying. He believed that one had to master the basics of the basics before one could build up on that base and expand and deepen one’s skills. They practiced sword swings, how to correctly defend themselves and at the end always had a one-on-one practice match._

_And like almost always, the final practice match was between Gaku and Tenn, the two most promising students of the dojo._

_After they were done with everything and helped clean up the dojo, the four friends decided to go take a walk to the local sweets shop and get some snacks. The two losers of the practice matches had to treat the two winners. Luckily, the rain had stopped already._

_“And with today’s match it marks my 50 th win against you.” Gaku said with a smug smile on his face, his hands behind his head as he made big steps._

_“You’re counting them?” Ryu asked._

_“Still less than my 58 wins against you though.” Tenn countered._

_“You too?”_

_“Hmph! Just you wait, I’ll quickly overpass you.”_

_“Go on and try then.”_

_“They’re always so lively.” Tsumugi laughed._

_“That’s one way to put it I guess.” Ryu sighed._

_They arrived at the sweets store, Tenn and Ryu bought some snacks and they decided to eat them underneath the big cherry tree next to the river. They sat down in the tree’s shade and started eating their different snacks as a gush of wind appeared out of nowhere._

_It was so strong that it blew of some petals of the cherry tree and they started falling down slowly, swaying back and forth in the wind; as if they were dancing. The friends made big eyes as they marvelled at the rain of light pink coloured petals._

_Gaku suddenly moved his right arm skywards, the wooden training sword in his hand._

_“I swear on the dancing cherry blossoms.”_

_His friends turned to him as he started talking._

_“One day I’ll take the world with this sword!!”_

_“Huh? Although you can’t even beat me? Don’t make me laugh.” Tenn chuckled._

_“What was that? You wanna fight, huh!?”_

_“They’re at it again…” Ryu sighed once again._

_“Fight! Fight!” Tsumugi added with a laugh._

_Gaku and Tenn jumped up simultaneously, took a stance and rushed towards each other with raised swords and big grins on their faces._

 

 

Gaku was standing in front of his home, soaking wet from the rain. He hadn’t noticed but he somehow walked back home unconsciously. Not wanting to think too much about it, he entered, took of his wet clothes, dried off and put on a new yukata. Because he didn’t know what to do, he just lied down on the floor and stared at the ceiling.

He wondered if he’d be visiting the past in a dream again. And because he was curious to find out, he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. The only background noises were the in the wind ringing chimes. They led him into the world of dreams and past illusions.

 

 

_Gaku was running. Not only down the road but also running late for the weekly lessons in the master’s dojo. It had been hot all day and he coped by doing nothing and lying on the floor. Unfortunately he had fallen asleep and woke up too late._

_At the same time in the dojo, Ryu and Tsumugi were exchanging some swings with the sword. Tenn was sitting on the floor, leaning onto a wall. Ryu had asked him if he wanted to spar until Gaku arrived, but Tenn declined. He was acting strange, Ryu thought to himself. But he just labelled it as Tenn’s usual behaviour for when Gaku was running late again._

_But then after a while, Tenn stood up all of a sudden and approached Ryu and Tsumugi. He stopped in front of them and let go of his training swords. A loud noise echoed through the hall when it hit the wooden flooring. The other two turned around to him, Tenn’s head facing down. He didn’t want to see his friends’ expressions to what he was about to say._

_“Hey… Ryu, Tsumugi…” he took a short break, breathed in deeply as if reaffirming his resolve and continued. “Let’s just stop this.”_

_“Stop this?” Ryu asked. “Today’s training? Are you tired? You seemed kinda down, did you catch a cold or something?”_

_“That’s not what I mean.”_

_“What do you mean then, Tenn?” Tsumugi stepped closer._

_“I mean all this. All of it.” he moved his head upwards and looked at his friends. “I’m gonna stop the lessons. Practicing with a sword, wanting to become a samurai…” his voice became quieter. “…it’s all meaningless anyways.”_

_“What?!” Gaku’s voice filled the room. He had just arrived and was standing at the entrance, an annoyed expression on his face. He entered and stomped towards Tenn. “What do you mean meaningless? Are you stupid!?”_

_“Gaku…” Tenn’s eyes widened. He already felt bad telling it to Ryu and Tsumugi, but he at least didn’t want Gaku to hear him say that. Anyone but him. Tenn closed his eyes and looked away. “It’s… it’s exactly as I said. The way of the sword is meaningless, so I’m gonna stop pursuing it.”_

_“Fine!” Gaku yelled and grabbed his wooden sword. “If you beat me in a duel that is! So pick up your weapon and fight like a real man!!” he took a stance and waited for Tenn._

_“…” Tenn sighed and turned back to Gaku. His lips formed a faint smile. “You never change, do you? You’re so stubborn.”_

_“I’m being told that often.”_

_“…it’s not like it’s my decision.” Tenn whispered so that no one could hear it. He took a deep breath, reached down to the floor to grab his dropped sword and took the same stance as Gaku. “Are you sure you can beat me?” he mocked Gaku. He didn’t want to say those words. He didn’t want to fight Gaku. He didn’t want to hurt him. He didn’t want to leave. But he had to._

_“Tch, talk after I’ve beaten the crap out of you, brat.” Gaku said with a both angry and excited face. Even though he didn’t understand what Tenn had meant before, he would always look forward to a match with him._

_As if they understood without words, they dashed at each other at the same time and exchanged blows with their swords. Neither of them letting down their defence, but at the same time trying to throw away the other’s sword. Ryu and Tsumugi had stepped back a bit and were observing their friends’ duel. Ryu would’ve preferred to talk it out, but he knew that was how those two talked things out._

_Their duel lasted longer than both of them thought it would, neither of them was going easy on the other. It may have been their toughest match up to then. But in the end, Gaku made a small mistake and Tenn managed to make him lose his sword in that short moment. The sword flew to the ground, followed by Gaku himself slipping and landing on the floor as well._

_Tenn was standing in front of him, his sword pointed at his friend on the ground. He was looking down at him, smiling. But never had Gaku seen such a sad and painful smile on Tenn. Before he could do anything, Tenn let go of the sword and turned around. Wordlessly, he started walking towards the exit._

_“Tenn! Wait a second, what---“ Ryu called out to him while Tsumugi ran to Gaku’s side and helped him up._

_“Farewell.” Tenn said without turning back and left the dojo._

_Gaku stretched out a hand as if trying to catch Tenn’s back. But his hand didn’t reach and Tenn was gone, leaving his friends and the sword behind._

 

 

Gaku opened his eyes in a cold sweat.

“That’s not the kind of dream I wanted to see.” he covered his eyes with his right arm. “If our master had been there maybe he could’ve stopped Tenn from going away.” he sighed. “…if I just had been stronger.”

Gaku didn’t know why Tenn had left all those years ago. Neither Ryu, Tsumugi nor Gaku had heard of him again ever since that day. Everyone they asked about Tenn’s whereabouts answered with a shaking head. No one knew where he had suddenly disappeared to. After a while, Ryu and Tsumugi decided it’d be pointless to keep looking for Tenn, even though they were as disappointed as Gaku.

But Gaku didn’t stop. He didn’t stop looking for Tenn, not even after all those years. He may have known in his head that what he was doing served no purpose, but he just couldn’t stop himself. Not after the promise they had made.

He didn’t feel like standing up, but he suddenly remembered about meeting with Ryu and Tsumugi to eat soba. He pulled himself together, stood up from the floor and left to head to the soba place. It had stopped raining and the sun was slowly setting. The streets were still busy with people, but those were slowly fading as well, as if going hand in hand with the sun.

At a crossroads Gaku was stopped by an elderly woman who called out to him. He turned to her and she replied with a waving of her hand, wanting him to get closer to her. Gaku approached the woman standing behind a small stall. She was selling different small objects like jewellery and the like.

“Young man.” the woman mumbled. “You seem troubled.”

“Well…” he didn’t want to pay her much attention since he had promised to meet with his friends, but he also didn’t want to act impolitely and just leave while she was still talking to him. A samurai would always be polite and act righteously.

But he remembered he wasn’t a samurai.

“You want to know why, correct?” she continued asking. Gaku was taken aback by the precise question. After all, he had just woken up from _that_ dream.

“…yes. Actually I do.” he started listening to her more carefully.

“I have a pendant here for you.” she grabbed a small drop-shaped crystal. It was a shiny red and it seemed to glow due to the evening sun.

“What a pretty stone.”

“Indeed it is, young man.” she smiled. “And it has the power to answer one of your questions.”

“What?”

“Exactly what I said. If your desire to know a question’s answer grows all too strong, the stone will answer it for you. You just need to have it around your neck.”

“…are you trying to fool me into buying this stupid magic pendant?” he asked, already intending to buy that stupid magic pendant.

“You are free to believe in it or not, young man.”

“…I’ll take it.” he said and grabbed some money he was carrying around. It wasn’t as if Gaku believed in magic and witchery, but he’d try everything that could possibly get him one step closer to finding out something about Tenn. Even if that meant buying a stupid magic pendant from an old lady at a shady stall with the money he had wanted to treat his friends to soba with.

He gave her what she asked for and they sealed the deal. Gaku bound the necklace around his neck and grabbed the red stone with two fingers. He held it upwards and looked at it more closely.

“Well at least it’s pretty.” he said.

“In the end, young man, you must listen to your heart. It will know the answers to your questions. Trust in it.” she whispered before she fell silent.

“What did you say?” he let go of the pendant and looked back at the woman, but she was nowhere to be found. The before filled stall was now empty. It looked as if no one had used it in quite a while. “…what…” Gaku turned around quickly and looked for the woman he had been talking to for a while, but she was gone.

Confused but accepting the fact that he was wearing a new necklace he continued walking to the soba shop. He arrived and told Ryu and Tsumugi what had just happened to him, but Tsumugi just thought he was telling a funny made-up story while Ryu reassured Gaku that he was just seeing things due to little sleep. He insisted that the woman was real, but he couldn’t really prove it so he quickly dropped the subject.

“Thanks for the invitation, Gaku.” Tsumugi smiled as the three left the shop.

“Yeah.” Ryu added. “Even though we had to pay our meals ourselves in the end because you supposedly bought that pendant from the _shady old woman_.”

“Are you mocking me?”

“I wouldn’t dare to.”

“Hmph.”

“There there.” she patted him on his head.

“Anyways.” Ryu stretched his arms. “We’re gonna head home. You too?”

“Yeah, I guess I’ll do that too then.” Gaku nodded.

“Alright, then we’ll go this way. Take care on your way home, Gaku.”

“You two too.”

“Bye bye.” Tsumugi waved her arm and the three went their way. Gaku retraced his steps from before, hoping to bump into that old woman on his way home, but there was no one behind the stall at the crossroads. Not that there were any people walking around in the first place. The sun had set and the people returned to their homes.

After a short night walk to empty his head and digest the food, Gaku arrived home. He was tired from the day and decided to head to bed already. He rolled out his futon and left himself fall down on it. It didn’t take long until his eyes fell shut and he started dreaming.

 

 

_Gaku and Tenn were lying underneath the cherry tree next to the river. Ryu and Tsumugi had gone back to the sweets store to buy more candy. The cherry blossoms were dancing in the wind when Tenn suddenly grabbed Gaku’s hand. Gaku startled at the unexpected action, but he didn’t move his hand away._

_“Gaku?”_

_“Wh-what?”_

_“Promise me…” Tenn took a deep breath. “When a time comes where we can’t meet anymore…”_

_“Yes?”_

_“…promise me that even then we won’t be apart from each other.” Tenn sounded weirdly serious when he uttered those words. Gaku didn’t quite understand what he meant, but he understood the answer that much more._

_“Of course!” Gaku exclaimed and reciprocated Tenn’s grip, holding his hand as firmly as possible. “We’ll always be together!”_

_“…thank you.” Tenn whispered._

 

The morning sun crawled into Gaku’s house and woke him up from his dream. The light reflecting on his tear-streaked face.

“…Tenn…”

His name painfully rolled over Gaku’s lips. Only saying his name reminded him of the scene of when he left, even though he just wanted to know the _why_. Suddenly he remembered the pendant he had bought the night before. He dried of his tears and sat up, looking for the pendant that was hanging from his neck.

“…I don’t know how or if you work, but…” he stopped for a moment and lied down again. He grabbed the red stone with his left hand and held onto it tightly, holding it close to his heart. His right arm fell down on the floor next to him. He closed his eyes and remembered their promise.

His hand began to close slowly, finger after finger, as if he was holding someone else’s hand. And before he could do anything against it, he found himself in a dojo, but it wasn’t the one they used to train at. It was another one, and Gaku recognized which one it was. It was the small dojo annex situated next to Kujou’s home.

Tenn’s and his foster father’s home.

Was he dreaming? Gaku couldn’t remember having ever entered Kujou’s dojo. But then again, it was a dream. Dreams aren’t always supposed to make sense, maybe he was having a new one, not connected to his past memories. But he felt different from when he had all those other dreams. The one he was having at that moment didn’t feel like a dream at all. It felt more like… a vision.

The red pendant was showing him the answer to his question.

Tenn and Kujou were sitting on the floor, kneeling on a cushion. They were facing each other. Or rather, they would have been if Tenn weren’t looking down instead. Gaku saw the scene from the side, as if he was watching a theatre play from the first row. But he couldn’t move, forced to only watch as the scene unfolded in front of him.

“Tenn.”

“Yes, Kujou-san?” he answered, not lifting his head.

“I’ve been telling you about this for a while, haven’t I?”

“You did.”

“Then you know what I’m about to say…”

“Most likely…”

“Tenn, I know that you’ve been enjoying play-pretend with your friends, but the way of the sword is a meaningless one in our current world. The times are changing. Soon it will be prohibited altogether. Samurai will vanish, if you continue on this path you will regret it later.” Kujou explained.

“With all due respect, Kujou-san…” Tenn looked up. His gaze was serious and honest. “How can you be so sure about that?”

“I have connections, Tenn. That is an essential part of life. It always was and it always will be.”

“Also, we’re not playing-pretend. We’re all serious about this and---“

“Tenn, take a look at my clothes.” Kujou said calmly and stood up. He was wearing a new custom-tailored suit. “This is one of many proofs that it’s time to change. Our country cannot continue like it used to. It needs to adapt to the world or we’ll lose the race.” he explained and sat back down slowly.

“What race!? Why is that so important? Is it wrong to just wanting to enjoy the here and now?! Why---“

“Tenn.”

“…” he stopped breathing for a moment and remembered who he was talking to. “…excuse me, Kujou-san.”

“No need to apologize, Tenn. It’s not your fault. It’s mine for letting you around such bad influence.”

“…” Tenn lowered his face again. The seriousness in his eyes vanished and sadness took its place.

“Listen, Tenn. I shall give you time until tomorrow to cut ties with your friends. We’ll move to the capital tomorrow and there you’ll start studying to become a doctor as soon as possible. It’s the right path, believe in me.”

“Understood, Kujou-san…” Tenn nodded weakly.

“Very well.” he patted his head, stood up and left the room, leaving him alone. Tenn raised his head again and turned upwards. A tear rolled down his cheek and fell onto his lap.

“I’ll cut my ties, Kujou-san. But…”

“Tenn…” Gaku whispered to himself.

“I’ll cut my ties, but our bonds can’t be severed.”

“…”

“…I’m sorry, Gaku.”

“Tenn!” Gaku stretched out his arm reflexively, but he couldn’t get close to Tenn at all. The vision he was seeing started blurring and fading away like the smoke from an extinguished fire. The grey turned to black and Gaku felt lost until he finally opened his eyes.

He was breathing heavily, drenched in sweat as if he had just woken up from a nightmare. He sat up and looked around. He was in his room again; or did he ever leave in the first place? It was morning, but was it the same or the next one. He didn’t know, everything he thought to know only confused him now.

Remembering the pendant around his neck he quickly grabbed it with his right hand. He looked at it closely on his palm, it was the same shiny red colour. Like a flash of lightning the old woman’s words crossed his mind.

_You must listen to your heart. It will know the answers to your questions. Trust in it._

Gaku decided to do just that and jumped up from the futon. He got clothed and grabbed his wooden sword and a second one he had put into the back of his wardrobe. While looking for it he threw all the boxes and other things inside to the floor, he was in a hurry and just wanted to find that sword.

Once he did, he put on his sandals and rushed outside to the already busy street. He evaded the crowds of people as best as he could without slowing down his pace. He ran as fast as he could, finally knowing his destination.

_One day I’ll take the world with this sword!!_

Tsumugi and Ryu were on their way to visit Gaku, but halfway there they found him running into the opposite direction they were going.

“G-gaku?!” Ryu turned around as the silver haired man dashed past his friends.

“Why is he running so fast?” Tsumugi asked.

“I-I don’t know, should we run after hi---Tsumugi-chan?!” Ryu asked, but his friend had already started running after Gaku.

“Come on!” she waved her arm and the two tried to catch up to Gaku.

“Gaku!” Ryu yelled when they got closer to him.

“Gaku!!” Tsumugi screamed as well.

“Ryu? Tsumugi?” Gaku quickly glanced back, not stopping his running.

“Where are you running to?”

“Can’t say. If you wanna come too, keep running.”

_Huh? Although you can’t even beat me? Don’t make me laugh._

“What?” Ryu was confused, but what did he expect from Gaku?

“That is _if_ you can keep up with me.” Gaku laughed out loud. It had been a long time since the two had seen him laugh so wholeheartedly.

“Ha!” Ryu quickened his pace. “Bring it on!”

“I can’t run this fast!” Tsumugi yelled, getting behind of the two but still managing to keep up with them. The three friends were running past crowds of people, evading every obstacle on their way. If they did end up bumping with someone, Ryu made sure to quickly apologize to them.

“This feels like back when we were kids!” Tsumugi laughed. “If only Tenn would be here to enjoy it too!”

_Let’s race to the dojo._

“He will soon!” Gaku exclaimed.

“What?!” Ryu was shocked. “Did you find out where he is?!”

“No.”

“…what!”

“I mean, I have a feeling I know where he could be.” he laughed again.

_Still less than my 58 wins against you though._

“We’re running like madmen because you have a _feeling_ of where he could be?”

“Yeah.”

_Farewell._

“…” if Ryu weren’t busy running he would’ve sighed at Gaku’s ‘plan’. Tsumugi only laughed, being happy that the old Gaku was back again.

“Believe in my heart, Ryu!” Gaku said in a serious tone. Ryu wanted to comment on it, but he knew Gaku long enough to trust his friend’s words. The three friends’ race continued for a little while longer, Gaku leading the way. They left the busy main street and headed to one of the gravel paths along the river.

_Promise me…_

“There!” Gaku said finally as he pointed to a tree in the distance, slightly slowing his pace with every step. While on the run, his past memories had shortly flashed up one after the other, reminding him of everything and making him reassert his path once more.

As they got closer to it, they saw a person standing underneath the tree, an arm stretched out and touching the tree’s trunk with the palm of the hand.

“Wait, what…” Ryu was the first one to point it out, but the tree was in full bloom. A big, pink blooming cherry tree. “What? Why!? How?!! It’s not the season for it to bloom, and yet---“

“A miracle!” Tsumugi cut off Ryu’s confusion and threw her hands skywards.

At the same time, a gust of wind blew past them and carried a rain of cherry blossoms to the river where they swayed back and forth, as if they were dancing in the wind. The person’s hair got ruffled by the wind as well and they let go of the tree to rearrange it carefully.

“Oh dear, today is nothing but trouble.” the person turned around slowly and crossed gazes with Gaku.

“Yo, Tenn.” Gaku smiled.

“Geez, took you long enough.” Tenn said with a smug smile while crossing his arms.

_…thank you._

“Sorry, took me a while.” Gaku shrugged.

“Hah…” he sighed. “This only happens because you’re such an idiot.”

“…Tenn?” Ryu and Tsumugi approached them slowly after realizing that Tenn was standing in front of them again, after so many years.

“Hello, Ryu. Tsumugi. Sorry to make you worry about me---“ but before he could finish his sentence, the other two rushed to Tenn’s side and buried him in a firm embrace. They couldn’t hold back their tears as they hugged Tenn with all their might. “…I’m back.” Tenn said finally and the other two let go of him, drying away their tears of joy.

“Where were you, we---“

“Sorry, Ryu. I’ll explain everything later.” Tenn said, turning back to Gaku. “No hug from you?”

“Tch.” Gaku grinned, grabbed one of the two swords he was carrying and threw it into Tenn’s direction. He caught it mid-air, like he used to catch it every time Gaku threw it at him in the dojo. “I hope you’re not rusty.” he said and took a stance.

“I guess you’re about to find out.” Tenn did the same.

“Tenn.” Gaku looked serious all of a sudden. “If I win, we’re staying together. Forever.”

“…” he was taken aback by that declaration, but he quickly concentrated again. “Sure.” Tenn chuckled. “That is _if_ you can beat me.”

“Shut up.” Gaku returned the chuckle.

“Hah…” Ryu sighed. “Some things never change, huh?”

“Loser treats winner to snacks!” Tsumugi raised one of her arms to the air.

“I won’t go easy on you.” Gaku said.

“That’s my line.” Tenn replied and the two dashed at each other under the falling cherry blossoms.

 

 

He opened his eyes. It was a chill morning in late summer. He wanted to sit up but two arms around his waist didn't let him.

"Tenn." Gaku ruffled through his sleeping beauty's hair. "Wakey wakey."

"...don't talk to me like a baby. What are you, twelve?" he said and let go of him.

"Good morning to you too." Gaku smiled.

The two were lying next to each other on Gaku's futon, face to face. Tenn's hand was looking for another one to grasp and Gaku quickly reciprocated the action and held Tenn's hand.

"...what?" Tenn asked as Gaku stared intensely at him.

"Your eyes are so beautiful, they reminded me of the cherry blossoms." he said with a straight face.

"...I can't believe you just said that." Tenn tried to hide his blushing cheeks behind his arm.

"Let's go watch the cherry blossoms again today."

"Are you an idiot? It's not the season for it at all."

"They were blooming the other day."

"That was... an exception."

"Let's go check on them if I win against you in a practice match."

"Sure." Tenn chuckled. "That is  _if_ you can beat me."

"Shut up you brat." Gaku said and Tenn started laughing. Their entwined hands grasped each other more firmly as they got closer to exchange a kiss. Today again, they'd be together as one; just as cherry blossoms will always dance in the wind.


End file.
